


Won't Suffer Fools Lightly

by aurons_fan



Category: Treasure Planet (2002)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 14:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5459240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurons_fan/pseuds/aurons_fan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain Amelia wasn't always a captain, and she didn't always know everything there was about space, ships, or dealing with people.</p><p>Meeting Mr. Arrow certainly helped.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Won't Suffer Fools Lightly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ocianne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ocianne/gifts).



> I’ve never written for a Disney movie but I love Treasure Planet and when I saw I got prompted backstory for Amelia and how she may have met Mr. Arrow, I became super excited. Because her story idea is vast and awesome and there are so many possibilities!
> 
> So, my dear Yuletide recipient, I do hope you like it!

Even when Amelia was young, she knew she was going to go to the Interstellar Academy.

It wasn’t like she particularly had much of an option. Not to brag, but to say that her father was the fairly high up at the Interstellar Academy was truly downplaying his importance. When she was a child, she used to crawl around the restricted floors, watching the students in their polished uniforms and shiny, tasseled shoes, and her eyes would grow wide because she knew that someday, she was going to be like that.

She wished that for all her heart that she would be able to be the kind of Captain her father was: strong, brave and true.

She just hadn’t counted on the amount of _idiots_ in her classes alongside her.

There were sniggers around the deck as their acting student captain, Kristoph, scowled at all of the recruits on the deck of the ship. They weren’t even that far into space, maybe only two klicks or so, but if Amelia didn’t fling the assholes off the deck within the next ten minutes, it would have been a miracle.

“What wouldn’t have happened if this was a _real_ adventure,” _Captain_ Kristoph shrieked, as more of Amelia’s fellow students continued giggling. Amelia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Just because someone had been promoted to captain (or student captain) didn’t give them the right to act high and mighty over them. Especially for an idiot like Kristoph.  

Speaking of which, he was still yelling down at them. “Locking me out of the Captain’s quarters would have been a serious issue! We would have had to abandon the entire mission! Tell me who did it, and I won’t tell the professors what happened!”

There were more giggles.

Amelia gave in and rolled her eyes.

“Tell me!” Kristoph shouted again, shaking the tattered remains of the captain’s hat that the school had given him. It _had_ been a fine hat, she had to admit, before Amelia’s fellow students had gotten hold of it.

Amelia let out a sigh and stepped forward. Kristoph pointed a long tentacle at her. “You!”

“It wasn’t me,” she said, crossing her arms. “And if you had actually checked the scanner next to the door, then you could have easily seen which of us it was. Furthermore,” she said, ignoring the ways her fellow classmates had all grown quiet. “If you were an _actual_ Captain, and you were wasting our time with this tom foolery, our ship could have easily been taken over my pirates. If you’re threatening to get us all in trouble, then you might as well sign yourself up as well.”

The student captain stared at her, both rows of eyes wide. Her classmates were now openly glaring at her. Amelia let out another sigh.

Her father was going to be so mad.

Again.

\--

Her father never shouted when he was angry. Amelia had always found it so much more terrifying when he would turn his back and she could see every tense line of anger that he refused to let surface. She could handle that.

But this disappointed stare he was giving to her over his desk was kind of worse, and she refused to fidget under his gaze.

Well, she tried. It was difficult.

“Amelia,” he said, slow and exhausted.

She cut him off before he could even begin this again. “Father, I was right. Student Captain Kristoph _should have_ —”

He let out a sigh that sounded like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, and she snapped her mouth shut.

“Amelia. Darling,” he began again, scrubbing a hand over his face. “You are one of the top students in your grade.”

Amelia didn’t see a problem with this.

“But if you embarrass the captains of the ships you’re working on like you’ve done to the past…” he flipped through her folder. Apparently, it was two or three times larger than the other students. But she wasn't going to dwell on _that_. “Four student captains?”

“Five,” Amelia muttered. He dropped the folder and she tried not to shrink more onto her chair.

“You know this is a requirement to graduate,” he said, leaning across his desk. “The more you fight this, the more you are going to be held back. And no,” he said, holding up his hand as she opened her mouth to protest. “I can’t use my position to undermine the student captains’ reports.”

She stayed quiet, a feat that was actually a lot more difficult to achieve for her. But she was so busy focusing on _holding her damn tongue_ and not spewing a litany of errors that the last four student captains had done (and let’s not even _start_ with the Kristoph. The oaf. How he ever made it to student captain was _astounding_ ) that she missed what her father had said. When he stood and faced the window, she blinked and stood as well.

“Father?” she asked, leaning a bit. “Could… you repeat what you said?”

He didn’t turn to her, instead choosing the gaze out onto the shipyard. “Amelia, if you cannot follow the command of a captain, no matter how asinine, then you will never be able to graduate from this program, top student or not. I’ve spoken with a friend of mine, and she is willing to have you …” he paused, and Amelia could practically _see_ the gear of his whirling around in his hear. “ _Intern_ , if you will, on her ship in order to get your credits.”

Amelia blinked. She might have blinked again, if she wasn’t too busy trying to not stumble to the window. And maybe her eyes were sparkling with glee, but how could they _not_? “Really, Father?” she asked, crossing her arms as she stood next to him. “What position shall I be assisting with?”

Oh, the possibilities! Navigator, gunner, quartermaster Or… since her father was so close with the captain, maybe she would work directly _with_ her or her first mate! Amelia schooled herself to stay calm, even though her heart was beating a million miles an hour.

“Every ship needs a cabin boy. Or, well, Cabin Girl,” he said, still staring outside.

Amelia froze. “What.”

“You heard me,” her father said, finally turning to her and giving her a smile.

“But Father, I…” she started, but he held up a hand.

“It’s not that I don’t think you can run every ship in the world, my darling,” he said. “But if you cannot handle situations with those who are unworthy in your eyes with respect, you will never be a great sailor, much less a captain.”

“But…” she said. There was a slight squeak in her voice.

He nodded outside. “Your ship leaves at 0800. I’d suggest you rest up.” He gave her a smile.

If she didn’t love and admire her father as much as she did, she would’ve huffed and stormed out, demanding to speak to someone with more authority.

As it were, she gritted her teeth and gave him a slight nod, before turning on her heel and storming out of the room.

\--

If she was being fair, it wasn’t… _awful_. It just wasn’t what she wanted to do. Ever.

She understood the purpose of having someone there to clear the deck and make sure all the ropes were tied, but did it have to be _her_?

And, of course, her Captain was nothing less than amazing. But Captain Tabitha, with her graceful air and piercing gaze, had crossed all four arms behind her back and looked down at Amelia, all six eyes boring into Amelia like she was a bug not even important enough to breathe the same air as her.

“Your father is an impressive man to get you a job on my ship,” Captain Tabitha had said, early in the trip. “But this is no pleasure cruise. I brought you on as a cabin girl, and I expect you to _work_. If not, we can always dock at the nearest planet, and you can call _Daddy_ for a ride back. Are we clear?”

Amelia nodded sharply. Captain Tabitha gave her a hard look.

“You’re dismissed,” she said, waving a hand towards the door. She was already looking down, forcing on a map in front of her.

That’s how it was for the first week or so. Amelia would wake up at the crack of dawn, just as the whales would float alongside the boat, and clean the underside of the boat up. And her day would end with swabbing the deck at night, with only the night watchmen on deck with her, before heading off to bed, collapsing in her hammock and falling asleep immediately.

(She learned very, _very_ quickly not to swab the deck first thing in the morning, when half the crew had slipped and slid around the deck, and Amelia winced under Captain Tabitha’s glare.)

None of them talked to her, neither cat-called (haha, how _hilarious_ ) nor helpful words. Nothing except. “Hey, cabin girl, do this.”

It was quite a lonely life.

There was one person though, one of the night watchmen, who, every once in a while, gave her actual advice instead of half-shouting, half-ordering her to do something they could have easily done themselves.

After the third helpful hint (“You might want to double knot those ropes. Just in case,”), she rolled her eyes, approached him, and stuck out a hand.

He said nothing. She looked up to him. She wasn’t one for poetry or bullshit like that, but this man was a mountain, simple and clear.

“I’m Amelia,” she said, and he nodded, shaking. “Thank you for not treating me like the scenery.”

“My name is Arrow, ma’am,” he said. “It is nice to meet you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t think I would be called ma’am while being the cabin girl.”

“Every young woman deserves to be called that,” he said, before ever so slightly shrugging his shoulders. “Besides. You seem to know what you’re doing. I won’t talk down to you.”

She smiled and set her mop aside, leaning against the railing alongside him. Well, he was standing next to it, scanning the sky every once in a while, but it was close enough. “What Academy have you come from? I’m almost done with the Interstellar Academy, but, well, my father thought it would be good to have some real world experience before I graduate and being a Cabin Girl was apparently a good learning tool.”

That was a nice way of saying, ‘needed to be everyone’s grunt in order to graduate.’ Nice. Succinct. Her father would have been proud.

“None, ma’am,” he said, and she raised an eyebrow. He chuckled, “Sometimes it’s necessary enough to work up from Cabin Boy to an actual crew member.”

She blinked. “Oh,” she said softly, trying to push down the flush of red on her face. “I uh…”

“There is no need to apologize,” he said, turning back to the sky.

She didn’t quite know what to say to him, besides spewing apologies, so she stood in silence next to him, watching the space whales floating gently beside the ship.

And it was kind of nice.

\--

Amelia was kind of surprised at how fast the next few months went.

Arrow (or Mr. Arrow as she started calling him, because he refused to give her his first name) apparently had bounced around from crew to crew and had only been with this crew and on this ship for one voyage longer than her. And while he wasn’t up to speed on all the technical verbatim that was associated with being a sailor, he knew more about the ships than she did.

“I’ve been on ships all of my life,” she argued, as he lead her down through the underbelly of the ship. Her job today was to inspect the smaller boats to make sure everything was in tip-top shape, and she couldn’t exactly _find_ it. “This ship must be set up differently than the ones I’ve been on.”

Arrow let out a chuckle as he dropped down into the small space that housed the ships. He offered his hand to help her down but she landed beside him without a word.

“There is more to a ship than the Captain’s Quarters,” he said simply.

She opened her mouth to argue before realizing that he had a point. She hadn’t _really_ been around a ship. Her father would have never allowed it, not without him close by. So she snapped her mouth shut and watched him demonstrate how to properly untie the boats and which lever to pull in case something were to happen.

Even the crew stopped treating her like glass. She was resting on deck one day, practicing her knots when a tentacle reached down and untied the knot she’d been working on. She turned, and a fellow crew mate wordlessly retied the knot.

“If you used the other way,” he said. His voice was much higher than she anticipated. “You go spinning out into space.”

He walked away before she could thank him. With a shrug, she turned back to the rope, trying his way.

And later, when she was hop on the ledge that let her clean the side of the ship, one of the men, smaller, with far more styled hair than she would expect to see on a ship, hopped on the ledge with her, and gave her tips.

“You gotta put your elbow into it!” he said. He grinned when she scowled and did as he said, only for the dirt and grime to come off much easier. “See! That’s how it’s done, girlie!”

Amelia shot him a dirty look. “Don’t call me that,” she said, and he shrugged, holding his hands up in the universal way of saying ‘Sorry!’

But he stayed down with her, and she had to admit the company was a nice.

Plus she got done _so_ much faster.

When they finally climbed back onto the desk of the ship, she fumbled a bit. Not enough to actually fall off the ship (she’d knotted those ropes well, thank _you_ ) but Arrow reached for her, and straightened her up.

She smoothed out her shirt, trying to ignore the fact that if those ropes hadn’t been done so well, she couldn’t gone right back over the edge. “Thank you, Mr. Arrow,” she said.

“No problem ma’am,” he replied.

She made to head back towards the kitchen area to replace her cleaning supplies, when she could see Captain Tabitha staring at her from the front of the ship. Amelia gave her a sharp nod (not a wave. She’d learned that lesson early on) and continued moving.

She could feel the captain’s stare as she continued walking.

\--

Arrow thought it was important that she knew every aspect of the ship before they docked back at the Spaceport in only a few days.

“But no two ships are the same,” she argued, as Arrow was pointing out the best ways to climb to the Crow’s Nest. It wasn’t that she wanted to do so – she had to climb one during one of her academy’s classes, but that was on a ship that wasn’t in the air. It was a little nerve wracking to think about doing so now.

“True,” he said. “But being able to figure out how the move throughout a ship, any ship, as quickly as possible is a great asset.”

She stared up at the perch, and resisted the urge to swallow nervously.

“Would you like me to go first?” he offered.

She huffed. “Thank you very much, Mr. Arrow,” she said, deciding to be ridiculously formal. “But I shall persevere.”

She ignored the smile he was probably giving her and started the climb.

Somehow, she didn’t find the trip up to be that bad. If they had done this within the early parts of the trip, she might have felt queasier, but she had grown used to the gentle rocking of the ship and almost felt relaxed.

“Amelia!”

She didn’t almost slip because that would’ve been unprofessional, but she did jump a little. Captain Tabitha was looking up to the Crow’s Nest, with her arms, all four of them, crossed behind her back.

Without knowing how, Amelia climbed down faster than she thought possible. “Yes, Captain?” She said.

Captain Tabitha gave her a look. “My stateroom,” she said, turning and walking away.

Amelia shot Arrow a look, who shrugged. She then hurried after the captain.

“Is everything alright?” She asked once she was in a chair. She wasn’t the type to squirm, but these chairs were nice, and she had been running underneath the deck recently. She didn’t feel remotely clean enough to be sitting here.

Captain Tabitha gave her a long stare, before giving her a rare smile. “You remind me of myself,” she said finally.

Amelia blinked. “Captain?”

Captain Tabitha waved one of her hands. “You have a tenacious devotion to everything you do, and you will be missed in this crew once we dock. However, you are always welcome back if you find yourself needing work. I highly doubt that you will, considering your father’s reputation.”

There was a pause, as Amelia let her mind race. She stood suddenly, to the shock to the captain. “I would like to stay, if possible.” She paused. “After we dock and I graduate, of course.”

Captain Tabitha raised an eyebrow. “Even if you might have better opportunities?” she inquired, leaning onto her desk. “With your father’s connections, you could be first mate within a few months.”

But there was so much _more_ than just knowing the stuff she could recite from her textbooks concerning a ship. Amelia shook her head and fixed the captain a look. “Having the opportunity to have hands on experience was eye-opening to how much there is to know on the open air,” she admitted. “Being able to stick with your crew will allow me to continue my education that I would not understand if I was immediately moved to first mate.” She paused. “That is, Captain, if you would allow it.”

The Captain’s smile did not wave. “Of course I would allow it,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “I haven’t seen someone climb the Crow’s Nest like that in quite a while. I was… impressed.”

Amelia tried to tamp down on her grin but failed quite spectacularly.

\--

Her father was strangely okay with her deciding to not follow through with their carefully thought-out post-graduation plan. Amelia had a sneaking suspicious that he has been planning this all along, but he just gave her a blank stare when she asked.

Her classmates, who only knew that she disappeared for a semester before coming back to graduate (to work as a _crew member_ ) couldn’t stop sniggering at her when she walked the stage for graduation. The majority of them had been hired as First Mates or Navigators, but she wasn’t bothered by it, not really. But her graduation was made even better when she saw Arrow sitting in one of the back rows.

“I had a few days off,” Arrow said, when she was back on the ship and asked him about it. “It was nice to see you in your element.”

She snorted and started climbing the rigging of the ship, just to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything in the past few weeks.

\--

The years flew past and she went from the crew member that had been promoted to an actual presence on the ship. They got a real cabin boy, more women joined the crew, and Amelia honestly couldn’t _believe_ this was her life.

She kind of knew Captain Tabitha was eyeing her for a promotion but she was too busy having just having _fun_. She’d stuck with Captain Tabitha and her crew as they moved from ship to ship, mainly because Captain Tabby (which she would never say to the woman’s face, were you _mad_ ) was amazing and informative, but also because Arrow was a man of honor, and would not abandon this captain who had finally given him a chance to be part of a real crew.

So she stayed.

Plus the opportunity to explore all the new ships with Arrow standing guard to make sure she didn’t fall and break her neck was simply too alluring.

But one day, she saw Captain Tabitha arguing with her first mate. Amelia never did like the man. He was always pompous. Arrogant. And kind of useless, considering most of the orders came straight from the captain because he clearly wasn’t _good_ enough to be there.

Even so, he was an ever-present presence, so when Amelia realized she hadn’t seen him after a stop in a spaceport, she knew things must have gotten serious.

Captain Tabitha beckoned Amelia into her office (she no longer needed to use glared and demanding tones. Just a simple wave would work), and Amelia sudden found herself staring at a pistol on the captain’s desk.

Amelia raised an eyebrow. “I know how to use one,” she said, before the captain would speak. And she did too – Arrow thought it ludicrous that she had never held one before becoming employed by the captain and had taught her how. “Would you like me to clean it to prove it to you?”

Captain Tabitha waved a hand. “I believe you. Which is why this one is yours.”

Amelia considered herself a fairly upscale young woman. So it was polite of the captain to ignore the choking sound that Amelia made. “Mine, captain?” she asked, once she could clear her throat.

The captain was not one to suffer fools lightly, but she didn’t sigh and roll her eyes. Too dramatically, at least. “Yes, Amelia. I would also like you to become more acquainted with our armory. You’ll need to know its contents to help me out as my new first mate.”

Amelia was slightly more prepared this time and coughed instead of flat out choked. “Thank you, ma’am.”

Captain Tabitha nodded, turning her back to her, clearly finished with this conversation. Amelia picked up the gun, eyed it to make sure the safety was on, and grabbed the holster that the captain had laid on the table as well.

“Have you considered who you would vouch for second mate?” the captain asked, as Amelia approached the door to leave. “I am afraid I do not have an immediate choice.”

Amelia laughed. “Yes of course, Captain Tabitha. Mr. Arrow will be a fine second mate.”

Without another word, she raced off to tell him the good news.

\--

It was a rare chance that her father and her had ships in the same port at the same time, but when they did, they tried to grab lunch.

This was one of those rare times, and she was in the middle of telling her father about her promotion to First Mate only a few months ago (time flew while in the sky), and how amazing Arrow was doing and her father gave her a long look.

“You two aren’t…” he said, making an awkward hand waving motion with his hand.

Amelia’s eyebrows raised higher than she thought possible.

“Oh, father, no. Ew,” she said, giving him a look. “Of course not. He is one of my oldest friends and… Ugh, just the thought makes me feel ill.”

Not ill enough to stay away from the dinner he had purchased but nice food like this was hard to come by on the ship, no matter how amazing their cook was.

\--

With her many years on the seas, she forgot one of the first things she learned at the academy – pirates were not just a children’s bedtime story.

She had only been the First Mate for less than half a year and was still getting used to the fact that she shouldn’t be jumping from rigging to rigging exploring the ship (“We have people for that, Amelia!”) when she heard the first gunshots coming from the captain’s quarters

She should have been _in_ the captain’s quarters, going over the ship’s course with Tabitha, but she as soon as the gunshots registered in her mind, she slipped from the rigging and ducked into one of the many passageways that get her into the inner workings of the ship.

And like the reliable man he was, Arrow was there, with news at the ready. “Ma’am, I believe the ship is the Procyon Armada,” he said, voice low. “The crew has been rounded up just outside the kitchen, and…” his eyes dropped, and she felt her heart tighten in her throat. “I believe Captain Tabitha has been shot.”

Amelia blinked away tears because they did not have _time_ for things like tears, so she removed the blasted hat the captain made her wear to signify her as First Mate and lowered her head. “She was a great captain,” she said quickly, because if she thought about what the words meant, she might actually cry. “And she will be missed. But as the new acting captain, I order us to take this ship back.”

He nodded and pointed behind her. “There is a passageway that will get you to the left entrance of the kitchens,” he said, as she turned. “I will take the other side and go first to surprise them if they attempt to fire back.”

She grabbed his arm before he moved out and hissed, “We will not be losing another today!”

With a chuckle, he removed her hand from his arm. “With all due respect, ma’am, if we must, we shouldn’t lose another captain.”

And with that he disappeared. She gritted her teeth, but headed towards the other entrance, pulling the weapon out of her holster and flicking off the safety.

After a few twist and turns, she walked out right where Arrow said, just to the left of the entrance of the kitchens. She could see the pirate’s captain monologuing about something (honor, glory, who really even _did_ that), but she snuck up behind him, and jabbed her gun into his back.

“Do you surrender our ship back to us?” she exclaimed. She didn’t have to look up to see the crew grinning at her and she dares to let herself smile wickedly.

But suddenly the pirate captain’s right hand man was behind her and she felt something sharp pierce her side. The gun tumbled out of her hand before she could even register it, and she fumbled for it before they could do something heinous like _shoot her_.

There was a shot, loud and clear, and the second pirate fell, without even a shout. Amelia grabbed her gun, and shot the Pirate Captain square in the chest. He went down hard, and the crew surrounded him, just in case, but Amelia dropped her gun, grabbing at her side.

Oh. Right. She had been stabbed. Joy.

She faintly heard orders being called out, and someone picked her up, but the world went black and she tumbled into it.

\--

She woke around their arrival to port, which meant her crew got this ship to move double time because they originally weren’t anywhere _near_ a port. She was bandaged up, quite expertly, and sat up to see Arrow standing over her, giving her a look.

“Ma’am,” he said, hat in his hands, eerily mirroring the pose she took when she learn of the actual captains death. “You may have only been acting captain for a little while, but I think you truly deserve the title. With your bravery, I am willing to follow you into the jaws of hell itself.”

Amelia rolled her eyes, allowing herself a small smile. “You’re a sap,” she said.

Arrow smiled.

\--

Apparently, the Procyon Armada had been a _big_ pirate deal, so when they arrived at port, people wanted to know how the First and Second Mate (newly promoted Captain and First mate) had managed to take them down. But Amelia didn’t have time to deal with brown-nosers and people who wanted the thrilling story.

She had a ship to run.

Although her crew didn’t disband so much as slowly peter out (some had families to settle down. Some had other lives to get to), Arrow stayed beside her, and became more loyal than anyone she could imagine that she had gone to school with.

One morning, years later, she and Arrow (“Mr. Arrow, ma’am. If you please.”) were siting down for coffee and biscuits when the hiring call came in.

“Ma’am, a Dr. Doppler wishes to hire us,” Arrow said, handing her the documents about the new crew and the coordinates this ‘Dr. Doppler’ wished to travel.

She brushed the cookie crumbs off her hand, excited, until she looked at the crew members he had picked, and resisted the urge to groan. “Does this man have no idea how to handle space travel?” she exclaimed. “Look at this crew! They’re nothing more than a … a ludicrous parcel of driveling galoots.”

She sighed, and huffed, but inspected the coordinates even closer. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was quite excited. She’d never quite gone that far into the reaches of the galaxy. Who knew what was out there?

Arrow handed her sugar, which she stirred into her coffee. “Perhaps,” Arrow said, as she took a sip. “Some time on a ship might be a good education for him.” She blinked, moving the cup away. He gave a smile. “It certainly worked for you.”

And she rolled her eyes but smiled back. Leave it to Arrow to be the softy to deal with an idiot who couldn’t pick crews properly. “Well, well,” she said, eyeing the hiring documents again. “I suppose that this will be an adventure.”


End file.
